FM: Six-party talks to advance
By Yu Zhong & Qin Yuding (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-30 22:09

Six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue still have the foundation and conditions necessary to move forward since all the involved parties have agreed to move forward..

China has vowed to persist in its efforts to push the talks ahead with non-stop effort, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a regular press conference yesterday in Beijing.

Liu said the fourth-round of the negotiations has been stalled due to political and external reasons, but all the nations have expressed their support for the talks to resume.

China, the Democratic Republic of Korea, the United States, the Republic of Korean, Russia and Japan are the countries taking part.

"The year 2004 has witnessed the talks winding their way forward," said Liu.

He said the last two rounds earlier in the year allowed negotiations to begin on substantial questions and reaffirmed commitments to a solution through peaceful negotiations.

And all parties involved have decided to stick to the principle of "words for words" and "action for action" to resolve the issue, he said.

The parties have set forth proposals and plans on the issues and "reached consensus in principle on an early adoption of first-stage measures to achieve the goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula."

The new round of discussions was initially scheduled for the end of September but stalled.

On another difficult diplomatic issue, Liu responded to former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui's trip to Japan, saying the Japanese Government made a "wrong decision" to issue Lee a visa.

He said China is closely following the ongoing visit.

He said he hopes Japan will stick to its promise not to let Lee become involved in any political activities and that it will "take measures to disallow any vile impacts of his visit."

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